Warrington Wolves’ Youth Development team will enter into a formal partnership with Rugby League Deutschland (RLD) following a successful visit to the Heidelberg region by John Bastian.

Rugby League Deutschland Development Manager Uwe Jansen was delighted with the start of what promises to be a highly valuable relationship for the sport in Germany.

“I want to thank John and the Warrington Wolves for giving us the opportunity to present ourselves,” Jansen said.

“It was one of the best experiences German Rugby League has had. I am certain we will all profit from this partnership, especially the support for our youth development which is the key to long term success for the game here.

"We’ve installed a four year development plan for our boys, those born from 1996-1999.These players are the base of the first generation of Germany’s purely Rugby League playing seniors of the future.”

Jansen is leading on the registration of Rugby League departments in local omni-sports clubs and the establishment of a youth league which will commence in September with under-16 and under-18 sides and will see a significant increase in participation and activity.

“Rugby League in general must embrace the progress of the sport within Europe,” said Wolves Director of Youth Development Bastian, “and I would encourage other Super League clubs to create and develop partnerships that can help the progress of the game.

"On behalf of the club I would like to thank the Rugby League European Federation for giving us this marvellous opportunity.”

His four-day trip gave him an insight into the culture, environment and German way of life and to gain an understanding of the stage of development Rugby League in Germany is at.

The areas of ongoing support will include: educating the coaches, providing tactical and technical knowledge, developing skills, supporting strength and conditioning and backing the junior development and community game.

Bastian added: “The German people are very enthusiastic about creating sporting opportunities linked alongside strong family values and good education for their children.

"I found them and the youngsters to be very disciplined and very respectful in how they conducted themselves throughout my stay.

"They were very pro-active and, under the guidance of Uwe, are working hard to develop and progress Rugby League within the German sporting culture.

“We at Warrington Wolves will look to help progress and educate Uwe and his team of coaches alongside the young players who show so much enthusiasm in wanting to improve their knowledge and understanding of the sport.

Bastian continued, “I must also mention that Serbia, who were involved in a two-game under-16s international series against Germany, were also a credit in how they conducted themselves throughout the festival.”

RLEF General Manager Danny Kazandjian is keen to see the partnership evolve into something substantial over the coming years.

“Warrington has always been an enthusiastic supporter of developing the international game and we are really grateful for John’s involvement," he commented.

"Last year the Wolves hosted two players from Saudi schools, and we felt the club was the perfect partner for a more extensive collaboration with RLD, considering their focus on long-term youth development.

“Every level of the game in Germany will benefit from this relationship and our first focus will be on ensuring that RLD establishes a structure that will ensure more German Rugby League players are participating more often than ever before. That’s the priority. Further to that, Germany’s coaching personnel will benefit from the expertise of John and his colleagues.”

-ENDS-

PHIL CAPLAN
RLEF MEDIA OFFICER

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Well done Warrington Wolves. We need more of this kind of thing. I hope we can get a top SLE team to link up with the Serbians as they seem to be making all the right noises in developing the game there.

Sad to say RLD is in a mess structually and the President is AWOL and the board doesnt function. Uwe Jansen is a Union guy who uses his Union clubs players to put games on. They may well be playing League, but not regularly. A comment from one of his players who recently played for Germany said at the end of the game before everybody including the crowd was " This is a good laugh. Dont need to play any real games and get picked for the National team. Cant wait to play a proper game of Rugby (Union)" and laughed. Another was supposed to play away in Italy and didnt even bother turning up or letting anybody know he couldnt make it! Jansen has also pushed a number of potential clubs away (US Ramsten Army base, Hochspeyer, Calbach Raccoons etc) who refuse now to play the game. Danny Kazandjian turns a blind eye to this for some reason and the game has died elsewhere though I have a team in Bamberg and another near the Dutch border I try and help as much as I can. Whilst this may look good I dont think it will be that good a deal as the players being used have been playing Union since 6 or 7 years and understandably see it as their first love. League is just an after thought. With no real schools development going on or going into Universities I dont see this development work as having that much success.

We at widnes st maries vikings visited Heidelberg in 2012 on tour and played germany. They made us feel very welcome and was a good experience for them and ourselfs. We won 38-24 but They had sum good young players and hopefully push on with ther developements.

Warrington Wolves performance department played host to Rugby League Deutschland Head Coach Dan Stocks and Head of Development Uwe Jansen, building upon the relationship started last year to support the progress of the sport in Germany.

The pair worked with the Wolves' community staff in primary and high schools and saw Head of Junior Strength and Conditioning Gareth Whittaker putting the Warrington junior players through their paces in the gym.

Alongside Gary Chambers, Head Coach of the Warrington U19s, they spent an afternoon working on analysis, breaking down and understanding different aspects of attack and defence as well as improving individual skills and decision making. Following the game review the German staff observed Gary and his coaching team delivering it to his players.

Dan Stocks found the visit to be a great insight. "The two days that we have spent with the Warrington Wolves performance department has been hugely beneficial. Being able to look in detail at the many systems which the Wolves use in order to develop their youth players was a real eye opener and Rugby League Deutschland are looking forward to utilising some of these techniques within our organisation," he said.

"The coaching staff have been truly great hosts. Spending time looking at strength and conditioning, skill development, nutrition, match analysis and community development has been a great learning experience and RLD would like to thank everyone at Warrington Wolves in particular John Bastian, Ben Lazenby and Gareth Whittaker for the time, effort and hospitality they have shown us."

Warrington Wolves performance department are planning more link ups with their German partners that will see visits between camps both Warrington and Germany.

PHIL CAPLAN
RLEF MEDIA OFFICER

Edited by Honor James, 18 February 2013 - 12:40 AM.

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Eleanor Roosevelt